Ecological footprints:Calculation and analysis of ecological footprints from 1999 to 2001 in Liaoning Province
生态足迹研究——辽宁省生态足迹计算与分析

Measuring sustainable development is one of the frontiers of ecological economics. The present study aims to determine whether the ecological carrying capacity of nature can satisfy human beings' needs by quantitative indicators. Ecological Footprint Analysis is a new method for measuring ecologically sustainable development. The method is used to calculate ecological footprints from the facet of need and the ecological carrying capacity from the facet of support. From its results, we can judge the sustainable development situation a country or an area is in. This paper introduces the concept of ecological footprints and a calculation method, and calculates the ecological footprints from 1999 to 2001 in Liaoning Province, and analyzes the laws and causes of the vertical changes in its ecological footprints. Liaoning is a heavy-industry province in north-east in China, it was famous for its machine-building industry in past years. Now, it is facing some problems in the process of development. This paper aims to find out what the primary problem is and what causes it, by way of ecological footprints.Research results show that the ecological deficit of Liaoning Province has gradually increased over the years, and from 2.290 to 2.474 hm~2per capita from 1999 to 2001. The ecological footprint per capita over these years in Liaoning is 2.870hm~2, 2.945hm~2 and 3.049hm~2, and its ecological carrying capacity per capita is 0.580hm~2,0.577hm~2 and 0.575hm~2 respectively. The ecological deficit in 2001 jumped 3.4% above that of the previous year, and in 2002 it jumped 4.5% above 2001. Through analysis of the factors influencing the ecological footprint of Liaoning from 1999 to 2001, it was found that among all the factors, the rates of consumption of fossil energy are all over 50%, creating the primary factor.Apart from the main causes of over-consumption of fossil-energy, it was also found that arable land, forest and pasture land had become reduced and built-up areas increased which is the other main cause for the ecological deficit in Liaoning. This paper also provides some measures for solving the problem in Liaoning Province, and a model for sustainable development and economic promotion is proposed from the research results.